It was too good to be true. The virus that we thought we had vanuished and with it the dreaded Lockdown is back.

This time it is worse because we now know what to expect. Hours stretching out into days and the possibility of even months. Where once we welcomed working from home, today it has become a drudgery.

And like many businesses, it seems that the many blogs that I used to follow have also gone into lockdown mode.

All seemed well till the month of April when many bloggers were committed to participating in the Ato Z Blogging Challenge, brain child of Arlee Bird ( Tossing it Out) and hosted by #BlogchatterA2Z for bloggers to share their blog posts in an Indian Time Zone. I had a wonderful time opening up my newly acquired laptop,mobile phone app or even my trusty old Desk top ( which I sadly confess is the one I’m most comfortable with), and seeing who had visited my blog and what their reaction to my posts were.

Undeniably this was narcissitic of me, but after a long time getting over the shock of my old URL pointing to a Blue Site ( thanks Jacqui for introducing me to this new word) I was trying to get back into the blogging world and thought this was a good opportunity for me to get back. And it turned out to be a good decision because I once again connected with some of the bloggers I’d connected with during my previous participations in the Challenge and also re-visited some of the blogs I enjoy following.

Reflections of A to Z 2021

I never thought that I would join the challenge during the second year of the pandemic. That is largely because I never thought the pandemic would last that long. But it did. Even though I had my doubts I would last it out, I was happywhen I did manage it. Not only did I complete the challenge but I even managed to visit some blogs and post comments.

Thanks to Frederique of The Quilting Patch, I got my fix of doing insanely intricate and beautiful craft projects. Yes, at one time I loved chanelling my energies and creativity through handicrafts and needlework but sadly now I find crafting blogs easier to visit.

During last year’s challenge I came across delightful short stories by Keith of Keith’s Ramblings. This year he concentrated on unusual musical instruments and I was astounded to find that there really was an instrument called Zither. I always thought it was made up by Dr. Seuss.

Jacqui Murray was another blogger whose blog I like visiting and continued this year too.

This year I discovered a few new ones like Iain Kelly, who was introducing the characters of his Trilogy in the month of April.

I bumped into many interesting bloggers like Wordsmith Kaur, Meena Chatty, Mad’s Kitchen, Miss Andi,Vishakha Tiwari, Kim L Hine. Even though I have no weddings to arrange, I learnt a lot about wedding planning, the macabre toughts underlying classic fairy tales, life in the 80’s and many more.

I’m afraid I can’t list all the bloggers whose posts I enjoyed nor can I thank each one personally for making this interaction so meaningful but honestly, this challenge was one of the better parts of the lockdown.

The best part, however, is the challenge of using new apps, practicing my old skills and sharpening my computer skills.

But where have all the bloggers gone?

Understandably, there is bogging burnout especially for serious participants who visited several blogs on a daily basis and posted more meaningful comments other than WOW ! Awseome! or just pressed the LIKE button. Don’t get me wrong, I’m guilty of these misdemenours too. It is difficult finding time in these Covid days to not only visit other blogs but also sustain a meaningful engagement for ALL 30 days of the month.

After all, serious bloggers do have blogging schedules and have fixed days and times where they attend to their blogs. Even fulltime bloggers. Because life is not all about blogging. And there are times when I have to blog in secret, away from those prying eyes at home who hate my blog and the time I devote to it.

Quite recently, even Ms. Papaya has joined the brigade of ‘those who hate my blog and my blogging’.

I’m sure many of us bloggers have faced this resentment for time spent on blogging. After all, this is ( for the most of us) just an extension of a passion for writing. For some, it is a source of income and people find it hard to understand how one can make money by having fun !

There are many people who spend hours before a screen either carryong out video calls, designing or accounting or doing something related to work. While many are passionate about their work (read jobs that pay good money), there are many for whom their passions have also become just jobs aka A BORING ACTIVITY.

So naturally these people hate bloggers who seem to be having fun while typing away or drawing away or doing antyhing creative that gives them joy just for the sake of it.

Besides, with the VIRUS still on the rampage and news channels broadcasting 24/7 in every language how doomsday isn’t far away, one is hardly in the mood to go back to yet another screen just to blog.

Which is why, I feel that many bloggers have also gone into lockdown mode.

Many have migrated to shorter and more fun formats of sharing ideas such as Insta(gram). Many have gone to Facebook to share their stories. After all not every reader is a friend and if your blog is very personal you would naturally want your friends to know exactly what you are doing.

I’m a bit behind on Social media trends and the Little People are still too small to keep me up-to-date on such technological advances, but with Twitter permanently banning Kangana Ranaut and FB having access to all our information, many people have migrated to other platforms where only the select few have access to their innermost thoughts.

So, I’m asking all my blogger friends who I used to see so regularly in the blogosphere, where have you gone? I know Corinne has disbanded the Write Tribe on Facebook and I don’t want to download yet another social media group so I miss my friends from that group. I have followed them individually but many aren’t on WordPress so their blogs don’t show up on my Reader feed. Also, I think my devices are also quite temperamental so very often my follows just go off my radar.

But I miss you my old friends Shilpa, Shalini, Parul, Natasha, Esha Vinitha and hope you are all doing well.

Take care and ciao

p.s. Apologies to the Scottish balladeers who sang this song and which we had to learn in our English missionary schools without having the foggiest of England or Scotland or lads and lassies.

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Scottish_Song/O_where,_tell_me_where